“We all know how hard it is to write a book, make a movie, or create a new business. Powerful forces line up against us—obstacles to entry, rivals, competitors, finances, funding, the difficulty of the craft itself.
But the most formidable antagonist of all resides inside each of our own skulls. I’m talking about that negative force I call Resistance with a capital R.
How do we defeat this monster that lives inside all of us and never tires, never loses strength, never takes a day off, and is endlessly ruthless and protean and subtle and clever and diabolical in the ways it can set snares for us and bring our most noble and brilliant aspirations to nothing? How do we get past this force called Resistance and set ourselves on the path to achieve our dreams?
The title of this book, as we said, is Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be.
That, in nine words, is my answer. It’s the simplest and most direct way to get up in the morning and do our work . . . and to lie down at night feeling at peace with ourselves, knowing for this one day at least we have defeated our demons and moved twenty-four hours closer to living the True Self and Best Self we were born to be.
Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be may sound glib and superficial at first, but believe me, its implications are profound and its applications universal. We’ll start, in this book, with the purely physical interpretation—‘ass,’ meaning body, our flesh-and-blood presence. But as the chapters unfold, we’ll take the subject deeper and deeper, into the psychological, the emotional, the metaphorical, and even the spiritual dimensions of the principle.
Let’s begin.”
~ Steven Pressfield from Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be
Steven Pressfield is one of my favorite writers and human beings.
In addition to being a brilliant writer of both fiction and non-fiction, he’s just a good human being. You can feel his wisdom and humility and realness with every word he writes.
We’ve featured five of his other brilliant books on the creative process including: The War of Art, Do the Work, Turning Pro, Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t, and The Artist’s Journey.
As you know if you’re familiar with Steve and his style, his books are both inspiring and beautifully pithy. I just looked that word up. Yep. His books are the very definition of pithy: “concise and forcefully expressive.” I read this one in an hour and fifteen minutes.
If you’re a fan of his work, you’ll love this book. If you haven’t read one of his books yet, go get this one and The War of Art on Amazon. You’ll thank me. (Get a copy here.)
I’m excited to share a handful of my favorite Big Ideas, so let’s jump straight in!
Unlock this PhilosophersNote
Create your account to get more wisdom in less time. Personal development made simple so you can flourish in energy, work, and love. Today.
